To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice - Elie Wiesel

Photograph from the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives.
children imprisoned in Auschwitz -July 1944

Sorry to get all heavy on you guys but recently I went to the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and it had a profound effect on me, so I have to write about it. I told you on my profile that I would write about a mixed blend !


Most of us think we already know everything we need to know regarding the holocaust. First, we learned about it in school then perhaps saw documentaries and Hollywood movies, but the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial war museum is an education on a different level.

It has created what feels like a time capsule that transports you right into the guts of the Holocaust, reminding the public, very quietly, of a heart wrenching reality that we would find impossible to imagine in Europe today.

It looks at how the Nazis sought to destroy all the Jews of Europe and for the first time in history, industrial methods were used for the mass extermination of a entire race of people. Six million were murdered including 1.5 million children, people with both physical or mental disabilities, Gypsies and many more other groups.

It starts of with a video introduction by 18 holocaust survivors. Their interviews are playing throughout the exhibition and they take you on an emotive journey, describing life with their families growing up before the Second World War, right through to being liberated from the concentration camps. These personal stories are very moving and are woven through this permanent exhibition.

It continues by discussing the mood of bubbling Anti-Semitism in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. Then Hitler’s rapid rise to power and the beginning of the reign of terror, including the burning of the books, which is when Hitler ordered that all books by Jews are burned. Then a haunting quote by the German poet Heinrich Heine from 1823 is written on the wall next to it saying "where one burns books, one will in the end burn people".

There are little alcoves with other videos showing, and artefact filled cabinets with everything from the persecution of the Jewish people through history, the "pursuit of purity" regarding the Aryan race, the stripping of Jew's rights as human beings, life in the ghettos to the harrowing personal detailed accounts of life and death in Auschwitz.

It is well set out and well structured, tracing the events that unfolded with quotes on the walls. There is a host of letters, newspapers, toys, personal artefacts, uniforms, prisoner clothing, videos including speeches by Hitler (whose loud echoing voice adds a chill to the room) and some very graphic and disturbing photographs.


There is also an actual funeral cart that carried the dead from the ghettos, and a bed for practising Euthanasia on the disabled that was from a hospital Hitler set up for his “mercy killings” and a massive white model of the whole Auschwitz camp on a table.


It’s surprising how quick a couple of hours can go by as it’s deceivingly big. , every time you turn a corner you seem to find another room. It’s spaced out on two floors; it is modern, quite dark and lit with dim spot lights. Although most people in museums are quiet, everyone here really is in utter silence, no one speaks at all, I think partly because out of respect and partly because they're emerged in the shocking details provided on show.


This exhibition shows photographs and tells of the fact that thousands of Jewish women were brutally stripped and raped, something that other exhibitions don’t really discuss, but this is an exhibition that pulls no punches.


There are also inspiring stories of people who had helped the Jewish people and as well as naming and shaming by photograph and quote, previously not well known members of the Nazi regime who contributed to the slaughter in the concentration camps.


It gives accounts of gruesome details on how they removed and searched the orifices of dead bodies and what they did with the remains. A section is also dedicated to the brutal death march from the concentration camps.


Even when you leave, you still remain quiet. It almost feels like you’ve just been peeking through a door and witnessed the most shocking and disturbing murder ever. It’s definitely somewhere I would highly recommend others to go when visiting London, although personally seeing it once is enough for me.


The experience subtlety takes you by the scruff of the neck and rams the reality of this genocide down your throat. It makes sure you’re well informed of the truly inconceivable horrors these people endured, and never able to forget it and you will be glad what it’s taught you, reminding you with other quotes on the wall such as "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing " by Edmund Burke. It’s a journey of unfathomable evil, trauma, tragedy, and inspirational survival.


The holocaust exhibition is on the 3rd floor of the imperial war museum and entry is free.
Under 11's are not allowed.
Imperial war museum
Lambeth road London
SE1 6HZ

In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes - Andy Warhol



If your kids are being  influenced by any of these people you have fucked up your role as a parent, BIG TIME

Andy Warhol famously once said, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes, which is actually mathematically impossible, but perhaps what he maybe meant was that sometimes “nobody’s” will be famous for 15 minutes. That time has certainly come.

We have reached a point where we have more so called celebrities than illegal immigrants in this country, when will this stop? Do they deserve it? And what’s to be celebrated about being completely talentless?

The calibre of the word celebrity has been dramatically decreased in recent years, people who are famous for no other reason than being famous or infamous. Some have started on a reality TV show or a sex tape with a celebrity or farm animals, either way they’re building profitable but rubbish careers.

It could be said the continued downfall of the British civilization is manifested in the explosion of reality TV celebrities. This shits got to stop.

Recently we have been bombarded by this reality TV format that started with the American serious "The Hills" which was based on the lives of young people living it up in the Hollywood hills and producers here caught on and have created The only way is Essex and Made in Chelsea. America also has a show called the Jersey Shore and now there is a UK version based in Newcastle creatively named, Geordie Shore.

Out of pure morbid curiosity I decided to watch to see what all this fuss was about, after all The only way is Essex have catapulted new words into the public domain like "Reem" which I presume is Essex slang for Rent Boy. They also introduced us to Vajazzeling and now thank God they are marketing the male equivalent, Pijazzelled. They are such diverse Bastards.

The main guy in TOWIE, Mark became famous for being the mate of the widow of the late Jade Goody, who was herself, a Big Brother contestant and very successful at being famous for being talentless and cashing in. The general problem with this new easy celebrity lot is that they are glamorising being dumb and there nothing cool about that. Its constant self promotion for there own financial gain. What’s even more disturbing is that TOWIE just won a BAFTA!!! A FUCKING BAFTA ! At this rate I suppose we should probably start preparing ourselves now for Jedwards Nobel Prize speach.

In Made in Chelsea, The camp Pocahontas looking guy, who works on the door of the club, actually doesn’t. The scenes in raffles night club are filmed during the day as its members only at night and none of this Chelsea lot are members. Because they're kind of Peasants.

The worrying thing is either because our decaying public school system or because of previous head injuries, people are actually believing this scripted reality manure as real. Its not. Its scripted reality, with the emphasis being on scripted. As fake and as crap as Big Brother was at least even that wasn’t scripted.

It seems to be never ending, there’s always someone willing to spill there private scripted life into everyone’s living rooms. No one needs to know the ups and downs, the highs and lows of Peter Andre’s cheesy life. Or celebrate how many lines of cocaine Kerry katona hasn’t snorted that day, while she is being drug tested and literally provides urine samples on camera to prove to the nation she’s clean. This woman then has the cheek to moan that her privacy’s being invaded and she’s constantly being chased and followed by people; I wonder if it’s ever occurred to her that perhaps these people were actually her previous drug dealers? Note to katona: pay your debts Bitch.

But now let’s go and see a celebrity that actually has a job. Recently I interviewed Bradford born, Natalie kills who has been described as the new Lady Gaga, she’s actually from the same record label and has the same creative team. Isn’t it sad though that we already have a " new Lady Gaga" seems like 5 minutes ago she was the new Madonna, I don’t mind them selling us old ideas in a new way as long as its done without insulting anyone’s intelligence.

She seemed very dark and moody and was all about the message in songs. Hear was a culturally aware, intelligent young woman who although very stylish obviously had substance to back it up, she was talking her talk and walking her walk, and I listened, then I started to ask questions, which is when it all went a bit wrong. I asked her to describe her look in 3 words, she replied " kill your ex boyfriend clothes" obviously not a follower of stupid rules as her reply was clearly more than the 3 words requested.

I decided I would let her redeem herself by asking her my next high brow question so I asked her if David Cameron was to invite her to compete in the Olympics next year, what sport would she compete in? After a very few awkward minutes where it became clear that she had no idea who he was I eventually explained that David Cameron was our Prime Minster, she found this news quite shocking. So did I. She then told me she would probably do skateboarding. I didn’t have the heart to tell her but unfortunately skateboarding is not an Olympic sport. So she turned out to be just another well rehearsed air headed dumbfuck with a manufactured image and message.

I don’t watch much TV anymore, if any. But it’s not all bad; there are still some really good programmes on. There is Celebrity Juice, which is immature but hilarious and The 10 o’clock Show on a Thursday on Channel 4 is funny yet very politically informative. The most important thing is that we have choice, even if it’s between watching TOWIE or a cow giving birth to a calf on ITV Vet School, you have a choice to switch off your TV, pick up a book and learn something instead of wasting time watching dumb people encourage you to be as dumb as them. As long as the author of the book is not called Katie price.

A star on a movie set is like a time bomb. That bomb has got to be defused so people can approach it without fear - Jack Nicholson

Photography by Carlos Serrao

Jack Nicholson - Unquestionably, still the true start of any movie set.

If you must smoke, take your butt outside. ~Author Unknown



Image: Charles Harbutt, Laurence Miller Gallery

When the smoking ban came into place four years ago, smokers originally felt they were being discriminated against by being made to go outside to have a cigarette by a society that is supposed to promote integration instead of segregation.

When out socialising in a bar they would have to leave their non smoking friends and conversations inside to walk outside and smoke in a designated naughty corner regardless of weather conditions.

It was hoped that whilst standing out in the rain like socially isolated lepers and missing all the fun inside, smokers would reflect on their disgusting habit and be encouraged to stop smoking. But unfortunately this seems to have backfired and what actually happens is the smokers go outside and take the conversation with them and leave the non smokers looking after the coats alone inside, contemplating taking up smoking just to be part of the fun and not miss out. 

Henrietta, 19 says “some of the most interesting people I’ve met on nights out, iv met whilst outside having a fag”. There is no proof to suggest that only the interesting people smoke but surely only the dull would get left behind minding the coats?

Tom, 26 is a non smoker who smokes socially when drinking says, “I smoke when I drink because I don’t like waiting on everyone inside and hearing them laughing and mingling outside, and I feel like I’m missing something. It’s also a good way to meet girls, if you see a nice girl going outside for a fag, you can run after her like Linford Christie, with a lighter and not be cautioned by a police officer for it. It has a little bit of a speed dating vibe in the smokers area, after two minutes with someone you can choose to end or pursue the conversation without feeling uncomfortable about it. Pretty soon you realise that a lot of the girls are in the same boat and only smoke when they are out at the weekends drinking because they to have noticed the potential social benefits of the outside smoking section.” Tom met his current girlfriend in the outside smoking area of a nightclub.

However, these rules still seems to be unsatisfactory and life as smokers now know it could all be about to change again when Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary reviews the current law to see if it should be strengthened to include areas like beer gardens and doorways outside public houses where smokers gather, in a yet again effort to reduce passive smoking. Simon Clark, Director of the smokers lobby group Forest, said further legislation would “further erode our ability to choose how we wish to live our lives.”
Also, in an attempt to make smokers lives more difficult a complete ban on cigarette vending machines is also proposed, removing any kind of convenience for the smoker who doesn’t intend to quit.

Figures of the national statistics office show that the number of smokers who have quit since the ban is insignificant and has dropped which suggests no significant reduction has been achieved. So you have to ask, is there any point in this? Is it even fair that smoker’s interests are not being taken into account?

When the ban became enforced there was initially a little huffing and puffing (literally)  from the smokers after they were cleansed from the non smokers ,but now, no one really minds at all. Smokers have adapted to the situation and bonded with each other over  many drunken, smoke filled  chats regarding the repressive regime of the ever lurking cigarette militia.

The smoking fan has also had a negative financial effect on a lot of pubs who blamed the ban on people choosing to stay at home rather than going to the pub to go outside and smoke. A smoking ban on doorways and beer gardens could prove to be the final nail in the pub landlord’s coffin. Analysis of statistics from CGA strategy shows that since the introduction of the smoking ban nearly 6000 pubs have closed in the UK. The extending of this ban would hit the industry even harder.

I am invariably late for appointments - sometimes as much as two hours. I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing - Marilyn Monroe



Photograph by Ed Feingersh

WOULD ALL POSSIBLE FUTURE EMPLOYERS LOOK AWAY NOW PLEASE.

I utterly concur with my old mate Norma Jean here. We are clearly both singing from the exact same hymm sheet.  I have precisely the same issues ! I like to think of it as "Divine Intervention" because the things that make me late are mostly obscure, bizarre, completely out of my control events and just typical bad luck.

Dont get me wrong , othertimes its random stuff like Youtube, a cheeky cigarette break at Starbucks or sometimes, just like Marilyn, something altogether more pleasing.
But theres times its been my bus thats broken down, my mobile phone also acts as my alarm clock and the battery ran out in the middle of the night or even an Elephant escape at the local zoo which  played havoc with the traffic ( yeh, I said Elephant. Thats my story and im sticking to it you pessimistic Bastard)

But for me the bottom line here is fate , there are times when your just simply supposed to be late, its all part of Gods Masterplan. If I had been on time for some of my jobs I would never have got sacked therefore I wouldnt have moved to London and you would not be reading the invaluable wisdom that you are now. Or, if I was on time I might have ran across the road at the wrong time and been knocked over by a streesed out driver who was driving erratically so he wasnt going to be late, were all intertwined in this fate shit you see. 

So the message is pretty clear, dont mess up the big guys complex plans and just go with the flow by accepting  that its your destiny, dont stress yourself out or fight against it ...just live your life like a candle in the wind for fucks sake.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States - Henry Hill

The Cococabana Shot, In Goodfellas



This is one of my all time favourites movie scenes ,known as "The Cococabana shot" in Martin Scorsese gangster classic, Goodfellas.

No one bestows glamour on gangsters lifestyles better than Martin Scorsese. He's made it sexy and he lets me forget that although  technically they are the bad guys, I still wanna sign up, join and become one ! If this is the kind of table service I'm going to get in restaurants, I'm in ! Just find me a horse with a head , and I'll do the rest. Capiche ?

In this scence We follow Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his date Karen Friedman (Lorraine Bracco) as they enter the nightclub through the back entrance, Tracking through the hallways, kitchen, and eventually the crowd in the club. This is accompanyed by the song "Then He Kissed Me" by the Crystals, which massively complements the scene.

Walking through the club the couple eventually arrive at their front row table which has been set up with careful haste. Its a happy and exciting scene where you see the result of Hills effortless gangster power, with them being treated like royalty, only they're more cooler than royalty.Like waaay fucking cooler.

What also makes this special is that its such a busy scene with so much going on yet its done in a single smooth handheld shot without cuts or edits, which is known as a Steadicam shot. The director plans the shot, but the Steadicam operator makes it happen.

In this case the Steadicam operator was the legendary Larry McConkey, who also shot Steadicam scenes in the films, Raising Cain and the opening scene in Bonfire of the Vanities, which is itself another masterpiece scene.

Operating a Steadicam is one of the most technically challenging jobs on a movie set, but done correctly, will also  achieve amazing seamless results. For a typical Steadicam shot, a cameraman must follow a predetermined route, while adjusting the camera, avoid any obstacles and still be holding the heavy camera equipment all at the same time. So basically , its Kaa-razy difficult and not as easy as it looks and feels for the viewer, but McConkey, like Scorsese is a master of his craft and these two genius bastards are those who effortlessly put the "move" in movies.

In a 2003 interview with the American Cinematographer Magazine, McConkey said, "Several times I would get to a moment when I felt the shot was starting to die, so we'd bring in another character for Ray to interact with."

Scorsese described the scene brilliantly as "Henry’s whole life being ahead of him, doors opening to him. It’s his seduction of Karen and it’s also the lifestyle seducing him”.

McConkey went on to say,"I deliberately tried to take on the role of an audience member and behave as a surrogate character that responds on their behalf. I thought of myself as a tour guide driving a bus, a sports car or a boat, gently leading the audience to anticipate a turn or surprising them with a sudden curve." He totally delivered, its perfection.

Incredibly,this scene only took eight shots and it was done, it would have taken even fewer but Henny Youngman who played himself as the comedian on stage at the end, kept fluffing up his lines. Can you imagine how pissed off everyone mustv been after doing all that work and even though so much in the sequence could easily go wrong at any moment it didn't, until the guy ( who is playing himself !) cocked it all up at the very end with his couple of lines !he mustv felt like a right proper Jackass!

Anyway we will forgive the old Jackass as all's well that ends well I suppose and it still turned out easily one of cinema's most coolest movie scenes. I remember every part of it and I love how perfect the song fits it.

To this day every time I meet a girl while I'm drunk for the first time and she asks me what I do for a living, I say "Construction" hoping this will provoke a laugh as she gets the joke and that I'm obviously a witty motherfucker who's quoting Ray Liotta in Goodfellas.But sometimes this just gets a bland response , and then a confused looking one when I awkwardly try to explain that I'm not, it was a joke, a quote from a movie. This is then followed by me feeling like a pathetic loser for a second, until I think well actually, if your the kind of person that's not seen Goodfellas yet , were probably going to have Jackshit in common anyway. This is because there are two types of people in the world : those who have watched Goodfellas and those who haven't, the latter category have been scientifically proven more likely to drown their own babies. Stay away from them....and go stick on Goodfellas.

Its a beautiful woman's fate to be the subject of conversation where ever she goes - Oscar Wilde



Photography by Boo George



Barbara Palvin - Easily one of the most beautiful faces in the world

I found this in my email, I actually sent it to my law lecturer, clearly still drunk when I wrote it...oh dear.

Hey Jacqui
Im terribly sorry but with great regret I wont be able to make it in today due to an unfortunate bobsleigh accident. It happened Yesterday while I was in Papa New Guinea, where I had been visiting some diplomatic dignitaries at the embassy to personally thank them after they foiled a cunning kidnapping plot against me by some church of scientology extremists.The ambassador also wanted to discuss my knowledge of the J. Dempster teachings of employment law.
Speaking of employment law , and my knowledge of it, im aware that today is the assesment for it and therefor its highly unlikley that im going to make it in. Naturally this has caused me manic hysteria and colosal heartbreak.
But armed with my acute inability to ever give up hope in times of adversity and a work ethic to surpass the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler on crystal meth, I boldly look forward to the next battle, aka the re-assesment, which I will be more than happy to have a crack at the whip at when you set a date thats convenient.
Talking of whips , please find attached inappropriate photographs of me as requested.
see you wednesday


Dean

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. They wake up in the morning and that's the best they're going to feel all day - Dean Martin

You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on - Dean Martin

I grew up listening to Dean Martin songs, watching his films and as far as I'm concerned, Dean Martin had a black belt in cool.

He was the definition of the word crooner  and he kept not bad company. Everyone knows all about his ratpack circle of friends with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior,( although they refered to themselves as "The Summit" or "The Clan" and never as "The Rat Pack") the story's are legendary.

He had loads of hit songs such as "Everybody Loves Somebody", (which knocked The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" out of the number-one spot in the United States in 1964) but one that really sums him up for me is "Party Dolls and Wine". The lyrics are practically autobiographical, as he famously loved to party , (if he wasn't parting it up in palm springs he was doing some serious damage in Las Vegas) and he loved the dolls , collecting three wives (and some famous bed post notches were rumored to be left by Marilyn Munroe and Petula Clark) and he also loved the wine as he was famously often drunk on stage , yet managed to remained professional and still delivered. Note to Winehouse.

What I liked about him was that he never tried to be cool , he wasn't following in anyones footsteps , he was just himself , he sort of didn't give a fuck , he was just Dean , and that was cool enough, he was a stylish sharp dressed guy who never seemed rushed or panicked , just layed back and always effortlessly suave, but never pretentious.

He and Sinatra was largely responsible for the integration of Las Vegas. they refused to appear anywhere that barred Sammy Davis, forcing the casinos to open their doors to African-American entertainers and patrons, and to drop restrictive covenants against Jews.

My Grandad not only bared an uncanny physical resemblance to him but actually sang like him as well , this earned him the nickname Deano , which is actually where i got my name from , Taa-daah !!!

Dean Martin died on Christmas day 1995 ages 78, leaving behind shoes that no one can fill , partly because they've since been hidden by a chubby Canadian called Buble who's desperately trying to ram his mediocre imitating feet in them. Pitiful.

My Bio Part 1

Hi, my names Dean and this is my life story ....After the result of a scientific and social experiment, funded by the government, involving LSD and spinach in the early eighties, I was born in the Republic of Congo where my parents had been living in exile. When I was 3, my parents were unfortunately assassinated by the KGB for political reasons due to one of them being the illegitimate descendant and rightful heir to the Russian imperial throne.


Afterwards, although devastaed, my will to survive kicked in, so I decided to get a job as a pirate in Somalia but this proved to be unsuccessful due to me developing incurable bouts of sea sickness. So I relocated to Sierra Leon where I was lucky enough to gain employment as a child solider, mining for blood diamonds. I found this work demanding yet rewarding although the pension plan wasn’t that great.


One day, just when everything was going perfect the U.N came in and fucked it all up and I was “rescued” by a crack commando unit headed by B.A Baracus, otherwise known as, Mr T.


Then I was taken to Edinburgh to start a new life with 2 abusive adopted parents who changed my name to George. They worked as part of a travelling circus, they were also recovering crystal meth addicts. They already had 2 children who treated me like a leper. Often I was antagonized with spiteful taunts, fuelled by violent jealousy regarding my natural ability and talent for fire juggling. I used my experience and skills I learned while in the Congo to overcome this adversity and succeed in living a full positive life.


I spent the first 10 years of my adult life, living in Tibet, mediating and doing cash in hand odd jobs for my uncle, His Holiness the Dali lama. But left after a disagreement over the compulsory shaven head hairstyle which I found unflattering to my head shape and my distaste for the colour burnt orange.


I was then persuaded to move to Los Angeles by Mohammad Ali, after a conversation we had where he described me as “The Greatest!” and assured me that I could be successful in the City of Angels. So I did, and I was. I quickly found work as a body double for a famous footballer (who for legal reasons, shall remain nameless) in a host of adverts for an Armani underwear campaign. This and the Diet Coke adverts I starred in, turned out to be quite lucrative and funded a lifestyle of unbridled depravity for me as an international playboy. I then decided to leave L.A as everything was getting all a tad too morally corrosive for me. Also , drama started kicking off after I had embarked on a illicit affair with the actress Megan fox, that then turned sour. This was because of her negative energy frequencies regarding the rumor's circulating that I was the biological father to Angelina Jolie's twins.


When I left, I decided to attend Harvard university to study, which is when I won the Noble prize for quantum physics. After a brief spell as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan, where I had been captured by Taliban insurgents in the Helmand Provinse, because I was heavily involved in the underground hard rave scene there (good times) I escaped and crossed the dessert posing as an Alchemist/Goat herder and travelled to Dubai. While in Dubai I got into camel racing and eventually returned to the UK and won the 2009 Grand National on a 3 legged horse named Halfwitt.


After briefly becoming an international ambassador for the responsible use of Rohypnol in nightclubs, I’ve been working as a live impersonator of the rock star Meatloaf on the local social club circuit.


I’ve also finally settled down and life now has became a more chilled affair after winning my Pride of Britain Award for fostering 547 children. I’ve brought sexy back to London, where I’m living and practising the teachings of Haile Selassie and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. I’m also looking for Mrs right, so if your female, rich, can speak some English, like screaming, marking territory with urine and have an extensive knowledge of knots as well as a passion for chainsaws and hockey masks, then this could be your lucky day! You must not have big feet though. Strictly no weirdo’s please. So the moral of the story so far is don’t mix LSD with spinach and don’t count every hour, make every hour count, that’s all 4 now folks, to be continued.......
ONE LOVE x